The Pulse on the Economy and Capital Markets: November 20 – 24, 2023

To Summarize: Consumer concerns emerge after Walmart’s earnings call provided insights into economic factors impacting spending. The markets rallied in November while multifamily housing rents experience a slowdown. We unpack this and more in the November edition of The Pulse.

In the Markets: The markets rallied in November leading investors to believe that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates and may begin lowering them in 2024. In addition to a positive month for stocks and bonds, cryptocurrency is now up nearly 40% for the quarter. Market returns this year have been driven by the Magnificent 7, also known as Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla, which account for about 30% of the market value of the S&P 500 index.

Consumer Concerns Emerge: Walmart’s earnings call provided insights into economic factors impacting lower-income consumers. Recent weaknesses can be attributed to tighter credit and increased delinquencies, consumer balance sheets returning to pre-pandemic levels and the start of student loan repayments, which will affect about 27 million Americans.

Multifamily Housing Slowdown: Economic stressors deliver a significant blow to commercial real estate, particularly multifamily housing, which is experiencing a rent slowdown due to increased supply. Multifamily rent in the Sunbelt and Rocky Mountain states, which benefited from the initial influx of remote work during the pandemic, have seen a notable decline.

Top Headlines: We’re reading about the best discounts in years for holiday shoppers, Amazon lists more warehouses for sublease, layoffs and bankruptcies pile up in logistics amid downturn, and the Utah Jazz enter their experimental post-cable phase.

Related resources:

• Holiday shoppers have the “best discounting season in years”
• Amazon listing more of its big, new warehouses for sublease  
• Layoffs and bankruptcies pile up in logistics amid shocking downturn
• The Utah Jazz enter their experimental post-cable phase